


Artists and Soldiers

by punk_rock_yuppie



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Adorable, Cats, Fluff, M/M, Silly, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 17:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7854736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punk_rock_yuppie/pseuds/punk_rock_yuppie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len brings home a box. Mick is less than pleased.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Artists and Soldiers

**Author's Note:**

> written for robininthelabyrinth on tumblr!

Len can’t help the guilty look firmly etched into his face. He’s got his hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed just slightly, flushed, in shame. He looks up briefly again at his boyfriend-partner-friend and winces. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Mick harrumphs before sneezing, _again_. (Not that Len is counting, but he is _definitely_  counting and that’s the eighteenth sneeze in the past ten minutes, which seems excessive). Mick scrunches his nose unpleasantly, clears his throat, and his hands twitch with the urge to rub at his red-rimmed eyes.

“Mick, come on, how was I supposed to know?” Len drawls with a little more force in his tone, a more rigid stance than his withdrawn pose before. 

“How were you supposed–Lenny, why in god’s fuckin’ name would you think bringing home a box of stray cats was a good idea?”

Len crosses his arms. “I couldn’t just leave them there,” he says as he looks toward the kitchen where the kittens are mewling and purring and crawling all over each other. His heart aches at the thought that someone tried to leave them out by the side of the road, in the rain no less. “I’m not saying we have to _keep_  them, but I wasn’t going to just leave them to die.”

Mick sighs, long-suffering but endeared. “I know, Lenny,” he concedes before sniffling. He rubs at his already red-raw nose and blinks the itch burning in his eyes away rapidly. “I can’t stay here till they’re gone.”

Len nods. “That’s fair. I’ll drop them by the shelter.” He moves toward the box of kittens but is startled by Mick’s hand on his arm.

“You gotta wash your clothes–and mine–and take a _long_  shower, otherwise I’m gonna be sneezing for the rest of our lives.” Mick’s tone is dead serious (and hilarious, given his nose is rapidly stuffing with congestion slewing his syllables). “Got it, Lenny?”

“I got it,” Len agrees as he waves off his boyfriend. He hauls the box into his arms and peers down at the kittens inside. They’re all the same shades of black and white, with watery blue yes and pink noses. They keep mewing incessantly, and their long fur clings to the inside of the box insistently. Their fur clings to Len’s clothes, and Mick’s, and patches of the carpet as well. 

“Sure we can’t keep just one?” Len asks with a sly grin, scooping up the smallest of the bunch and holding it close to his cheek, all the while facing Mick.

Mick’s eye twitches involuntarily. Silence falls between them, tense and electric between Mick’s allergies and Len’s stubbornness. Mick’s arms are crossed over his chest and his lips are curled in a frown. In contrast, Len is grinning bright white and the kitten is rubbing affectionately at his cheek. 

“One. We can keep _one_.” Mick caves first. “And we are getting that damn thing fixed and _you_  are responsible for keeping it clean, and _you’re_  gonna steal me enough benadryl to knock out an elephant.” Mick’s gaze falls on the runt in Len’s hand, and his whole posture softens just a minuscule amount. 

The kitten mews and Len nods in agreement. 


End file.
